[March 21, 2014]BOSTON (Reuters) — Massachusetts
Attorney General Martha Coakley remains well ahead of her nearest
Democratic primary opponent and a Republican contender in the state's
race for governor, according to a poll released on Thursday.

Some 45 percent of likely Democratic primary voters said they
would support Coakley, the state's top prosecutor since 2006,
compared with just 14 percent for State Treasurer Steve Grossman,
her nearest Democratic rival, according to the WBUR/MassINC survey.

Coakley also led Republican candidate Charlie Baker by 41 percent to
26 percent when likely voters were asked whom they would vote for if
the November election were held today.

Baker, a former hospital executive and a veteran of past Republican
administrations, is seen as a member of the party's more moderate
wing.

Democrats outnumber Republicans about 3-to-1 among Massachusetts
registered voters, but the state has elected four Republican
governors since 1990, including former presidential nominee Mitt
Romney.

The current governor, Deval Patrick, a Democrat, cannot run for a
third term due to term limits. Other Democrats seeking the
governorship include former U.S. healthcare official Donald Berwick
and former Homeland Security official Juliette Kayyem.

Coakley has advocated gay marriage rights and won
multimillion-dollar settlements from banks for their handling of
subprime loans and other lending during her tenure as Massachusetts
attorney general.

Four years ago, she lost a special U.S. Senate election to
Republican Scott Brown after a campaign widely criticized as being
aloof. The loss dealt a blow to the Democratic Party, which had
viewed the seat as a safe win.

Brown, who lost his 2012 re-election bid, said last week that he was
exploring a campaign for U.S. Senate in neighboring New Hampshire.

The telephone poll of 500 likely voters in the November election,
sponsored by a local radio station, was conducted from March 14 to
March 16. Some 36 percent of respondents were registered Democrats,
12 percent Republicans and 52 percent independent or unregistered.